About The Client

Sapporo Sushi Factory is a family-owned restaurant specializing in Thai cuisine and sushi. The restaurant is located in Westerville, a suburb of Columbus, Ohio.

The Issue

An enterprising family of restaurateurs decided early on that they needed marketing, communications, and brand management support even before they selected the location for their new eatery. They already had a clear vision of the experience that they wanted to create for their future customers. But in order to achieve their vision, they needed a 360-degree mar/comms partner with insight into the voice of the customer, experience in business strategy, visual creativity, and the tactical skills to handle photography, logo design, menu design, signage, window decals, web design, video production, print production, and advertising.

The client ultimately decided to buy out the struggling Sapporo Sushi Factory restaurant in Westerville, Ohio, which presented its own set of challenges. As the client would soon learn, the prohibitive cost to replace the restaurant’s exterior signage would supersede their original plan to start a brand-new business in the bustling location. Instead, saddled with negative reviews and a reputation for poor management, the restaurant would need a complete re-brand before it could earn customers’ patronage, trust, and loyalty.

The Approach

During the crucial pre-launch and startup phases of their journey, it was essential that we not only differentiate the new Sapporo Sushi Factory from the old through compelling visuals and an overhauled menu, but also through a coordinated PR campaign and social media effort beginning with just a handful of community influencers—no-cost advertising that delivered a tremendous ROI. We supplemented the no-cost ads with strategically-placed placed ads in community publications. In its first year, the once-struggling Sapporo Sushi Factory was nominated as Westerville’s best sushi restaurant. To describe the work done with Sapporo Sushi Factory as a “brief” would be an understatement. It has been a privilege to help the client write such a comprehensive and dramatic turnaround story.